Alabama dad to be charged with murder in death of 5 kids

CAMDEN, Ala. -- Authorities say a South Carolina man will be charged with murder in the deaths of his five children after he led officials to a secluded clearing in Alabama where their bodies were wrapped in garbage bags.

Acting Sheriff Lewis McCarty of Lexington County said Wednesday at a news conference that Timothy Ray Jones Jr. would be charged with five counts of murder when he arrives in South Carolina. Jones is currently being held in Mississippi.

McCarty says authorities believe that Jones killed the five children at the same time, but he did not say specifically why he thought that. He says authorities are not sure of the motive for the killings. McCarty says officials believe Jones acted alone, with no one's help.

McCarty says autopsies are set to begin Thursday. He says he's unsure when they will be finished. Officials won't comment on any causes of death until then. The children were ages 1 to 8.

"This is a very tragic situation," Jackson said. "These kids' lives were snuffed out before they had a chance to enjoy life. Justice will be served."

Jones had joint custody of his children with his ex-wife, police said, and had recently told neighbors he and the kids were going to move out of South Carolina.

Marlene Hyder and her husband, Johnny Hyder, said Jones and his wife moved into a house next to them about seven years ago in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, 25 miles west of Columbia. Two years ago, the wife moved in with a male neighbor and Tim Jones moved away with the children, the Hyders said.

Jones led police to the site where the bodies of the children were found, off a two-lane highway near Camden, Ala., said Alabama Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Steve Jarrett.

Investigators could be seen at the site late Tuesday, working in a clearing at the top of a hill lit by floodlights.

Jones was detained in Smith County, Mississippi, on Saturday after being stopped at a motor vehicle checkpoint near Raleigh, Mississippi, and charged with drunken driving, Crumpton said.

The Smith County sheriff said Jones became agitated when a deputy questioned him about an odor of chemicals coming from the Cadillac Escalade he was driving. The deputy found what were believed to be chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine and a substance believed to be the street drug Spice, a form of synthetic marijuana, Crumpton said. A sheriff's office investigator was called and found what appeared to be bleach, muriatic acid, blood and possible body fluids, he said.

During a background check, police discovered that Jones was wanted in South Carolina "regarding a welfare concern of his children," who were on a national missing persons list, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. The children, who ranged from 1 to 8 years old, were reported missing by their mother Sept. 3, authorities said.

Jarrett told a news conference that authorities were not sure why Jones drove through Alabama.

Back in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, Johnny Hyder said that when the Joneses lived next door, the children were often dressed in dirty clothes and were seen home at all hours of the day because Tim Jones had said he didn't believe in the public schools. Hyder said Jones was constantly looking for a reason to argue and often threatened to call the police. He said Jones approached him with a gun on his hip one day and was angry about something, but Hyder couldn't remember what it was. When Hyder said he was going to call police, he said Jones told him it was only a BB gun.

"It wasn't a BB gun," Hyder said. "It was a real gun. I know what one looks like, but I didn't want to cause any more trouble."

Marlene Hyder said Jones threatened to kill one of their dogs when it briefly went onto his property.

"He was a nut," she said.

Marlene Hyder said she also remembered a day when one of the Joneses' younger children came over to the Hyders' house and tried to drink out of one of their outdoor spigots. He was dirty and disheveled and ran back to his house when she tried to speak to him, she said.

A "no trespassing" sign was posted near the driveway of a house where the Hyders said Tim Jones' ex-wife still lived with the other neighbor. Several people were seen walking around the yard, but none responded to questions from a reporter.